


The Broken Bird

by redbirb



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DC Comics, DCU, DCU (Comics), Superman (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce is a well intentioned papa, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Intimacy, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is a sad boy, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, but sometimes he needs to back off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 10:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13097727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redbirb/pseuds/redbirb
Summary: Clark takes in an injured bird.





	The Broken Bird

Clark didn't feel wrong about it, not like he maybe should, or at least not like some people told him he should be.

The thing about loving someone is that guilt, whether justified or not, hits the back burner almost immediately. He knows that feeling well : so very human, so very tangible. He's experienced it more than once, but then again the times before didn't involve a literal broken bird.

Jason Todd : more than a name, more than a man.

He knew Jason when he was still green behind the ears, remembers the mischievous grin, contrasting to Dick Grayson's (the first Robin) awestruck smile, when the second Robin was introduced to the Justice League ; Bruce had been happier then, if a little exasperated. Jason had been a handful, not because of restless energy like Dick, but something else, the sense of something to prove. Clark had understood that then and even now some things don't change.

Jason's death had almost killed the Batman. An inconsolable Bruce was a person no one could reason with, no one could save. Clark gave his thanks (privately) to whatever deity guided Tim Drake into their lives, for being the miracle that set the Batman back onto the straight path, self-destruction averted.

But now -

_You need to let him go. You need to let me bring him home._

Jason lives. Clark should know, has run his fingers through dark black hair countless times, kissed a smooth temple repeatedly, absorbed the sound of his name huskily spoken to remind himself of that fact every day.

Bruce, unsurprisingly, is angry with him.

Upon Jason's resurrection the young man has developed certain... afflictions. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger, a vindictive mean streak for revenge that cannot be tamed, no concern for killing ; the last part more chilling to realize and thus accept. He needs help, Clark knows, to resolve the poorly stitched together soul he now carries within. The real problem (or so Bruce has stated) is that Jason won't go back home ; i.e. Wayne Manor.

Clark had unexpectedly dropped into the middle of this family dispute. He'd been on his way to seek the Batman for help on something Luthor-related when he heard gunshots. The Batman didn't approve of other superheroes meddling in Gotham's streets, but to fly away wasn't a moral option for Superman. There had been a painful stir in his heart when he came across the Red Hood - Jason wounded. His first instinct was to carry the other off towards the Manor for medical assistance, something Alfred Pennyworth prescribed with a side of fond scolding. The moment he had Jason settled in his arms, the injured party spoke :

"Don't take me back there."

Confusion had been the first response, followed by confliction and reluctance. Clark knew it was a reckless decision, to fly Jason back to Metropolis and into his apartment ; to be fair when you're bulletproof most reckless choices don't seem as reckless at the time. He helped patch Jason up as best he could, stared down an eyeful of bruises and cuts and the graze of a bullet. Clark had warned at the first sign of trouble he'd be sending the other straight to the hospital to which the fearless Red Hood had responded with a rueful grin, a remnant of his Robin days. After a hot meal he'd sent Jason to sleep off the pain in his bed, watched over the broken bird who looked deceptively peaceful in slumber.

That was weeks ago and Jason hadn't left.

It just happened, really, where Clark would leave in the morning while Jason slept to go to work and come back home to the young man cooking in the kitchen or reading a book by the window, sometimes in the middle of a shower or talking on the phone. It was domestic, it was... nice, too nice to say anything that might otherwise break the spell. Unfortunately, Batman knows everything.

Bruce's sudden visit under a pseudo-disguise would have been shocking if it wasn't a totally Bruce thing to do. Jason, like a startled fledgling, had tried to flee immediately. Being Superman meant he could prevent the father from entering his home uninvited and the son from free-falling out a fifteen story building all in one very long breath. There had been shouting (Jason), disillusioned reasoning (Bruce) and an attempt at mediation (Clark) before Bruce's demands for Jason to go with him sparked an uncharacteristic anger in Clark.

Refusing to hand over the former Robin thusly put a rift between the close friends, but he wasn't going to feel guilty over it. Not for the lazy mornings where fingertips traced imaginary patterns across his skin or sharing idle chatter over lunch or falling asleep next to a warm body at night. Jason was welcome to stay as long as he wanted, was welcome to pursue this intimacy between them to whatever end he decided. Clark would give it all, selflessly, eagerly, without contempt or expectation.

_You need to let him go. You need to let me bring him home._

Clark wouldn't until Jason was ready, until Jason willingly left his nest. This broken bird with feathers ripped and wings bent, beaten down by life, would be protected by his hands for as long as he was allowed.

**Author's Note:**

> Does anyone else ship this? It's one of my favorite crack ships.


End file.
